To Know the Destination is to Start on the Path

Extracted from the pre-released book Creating Peace and Abundance Through Stateless Economicsby John G. Vibes.

One of the most frequently asked questions regarding the establishment of a free society is “how can we possibly get from there to here”. No doubt this is a tricky question, but to throw your hands up in the air and give up on solving it is literally to give up on the future of the human race. Before we start to clear the path it is essential that we clearly identify our destination, to ensure that we will be setting off on the right course. The best way to do this is to establish a set of principles that can act as a blueprint or roadmap for the path towards this free society.

The type of society that everyone wants to live in is one of voluntary and peaceful interactions along with decentralized social and economic institutions. Non-aggression, voluntaryism and decentralization are a few principles that everyone can agree on, because everyone benefits equally from the establishment of these ideals. With that being said, the kind of world that we want to build is going to encompass all three of these basic principles. Establishing these principles is a way of putting the horse before the cart and laying a foundation for the future development of a societal structure.

Luckily all of the values that I just mentioned can be consolidated into just one axiom, the non-aggression principle. The non-aggression principle states that it is immoral and unjust to initiate the use of force on others, except in the rare case of immediate self-defense. This reveals the corrupt and violent nature of organizations that call themselves government, because governments exempt themselves from this rule and initiate the use of force against others on a day to day basis. (For an even more in depth analysis of the non-aggression principle see Chapter 4 of Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance)

This special privilege has allowed the ruling class to centralize a great deal of power into very few hand, and to amass a disproportional amount of wealth and resources. The establishment of the non-aggression principle across the board would remove this special privilege, thus encouraging decentralization of social services and peaceful interactions. This is obviously not a process that can take place overnight, but the longer that this is avoided the more serious our predicament becomes, and the longer it will take to establish a free society.

When the abolitionists argued against the immoral practice of slavery, they had no need to explain how the cotton trade would survive without forced labor. They only needed to address the immoral nature of what was happening and demand that the cotton be picked in a more humane fashion. Once this understanding was established in the minds of the people, those people were able to work together and abolish slavery while still maintaining the cotton trade and economy that was once dependent on forced labor.

Once the principles were set into motion, everything else fell into place.

When Tesla first dreamed of his remarkable invention that harnessed electricity from thin air, he only knew the very basics of the final product he wanted create, but had not yet known how it was going to happen. It was his ability to focus on the final product which allowed him to work through all of the intricacies that came his way during the invention process. This is just one example of why it is so essential to set your sights on the finish line, because with no direction you will be running the whole race in circles. (for more information on Tesla see Chapter 33 of AOTMR)

When thinking about how to structure society the goal should be nothing short of absolute freedom and opportunity for all people. Many people make the mistake of thinking that this is some fantastical utopia, but as I will explain in detail later the belief that people can run their own lives and interact peacefully is not unrealistic at all. Rather it is utopian to think that small groups of people can protect large groups of people by threatening them and violating their rights, just as it is utopian to believe that you can bomb the world to peace.

For the most part people already engage in peaceful and voluntary interactions as a general rule. The only exception would of course be violent criminals and anyone associated with the government. The only difference between the government and violent criminals is that the violence that government takes part in is said to be justified, making it all the more dangerous.

Sure, violence will still take place in rare circumstances in the absence of a state, the
unpredictable and fragile nature of our universe guarantees this. However, these rare acts of violence can be dealt with far more effectively on a case by case basis without permanently granting small groups of people the legal justification to use violence.

Granting certain positions in society a license to threaten, imprison and kill in an attempt to minimize violence is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. The more violence that you allow in a society, the more unauthorized violence will spring up around it, because that is the tone that is set by people in authority when they institutionalize violence to begin with. This creates a vicious cycle that those in authority feed on and then later use to justify their special privileges.

On the other hand to establish a general rule that no one on the face of the earth is justified to use violence or threats of violence in any circumstance other than self-defense would drastically decrease the levels of violence that exist on this planet. This should be a common sense idea, but our rulers have instilled us with the false notion that self-defense, law, justice and protection can only be provided by a centralized authority that is granted a monopoly on the use of force.

In reality all of these aspects of civilization could be handled far more effectively if decentralized and approached on a case by case basis, instead of trapping people in legislation that protects nothing but the interests of those in power, as we see today and have seen throughout history.

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